Chapter Two

Relena unpacked her many boxes of clothes the following night in a hurried manner. Annie was coming to pick her up any minute. She knew what was acceptable at high school parties. She knew her fancy dresses that she wore to her father's political parties weren't acceptable. In her final desperate attempt, she pulled on some denim jeans and her favorite pink shirt that was more comfortable than attractive. She heard Annie pull up and honk loudly.

Her mother opened her bedroom door, smiling, "Your friend is here. Have fun at the movies, dear."

Relena smiled, hating that she was already lying to her mother, but she would never be allowed to leave if her mother knew she was going to parties. Even in her old town, she had to lie to her parents about parties. "I will. I think I'm finally fitting it."

Her mother smiled and closed the door. Relena leaned against her open window and waved the Annie. The girl honked her horn again in response. Relena glanced at herself quickly in the mirror before leaving, smiling widely at finally having a friend and something to do. She took the stairs two at a time and left the front door wide open as she left. She didn't care. She was too happy to have a friend. As she walked down the steps of her front porch, she realized that Annie may not become a best friend. She may not even be a friend at all, but Relena knew that one person talking to you meant others would follow. Annie could fade away by the end of the night, but she knew that someone would come and replace her.

"Hello New Girl! Ready to get your freak on?"

Relena laughed, climbing into the small car and buckling her seat belt. Things in a small town weren't any different than the bigger city she had left. The streets were quieter and there were fewer restaurants to choose from, but that's as far as it went. Life was the same in every town.

"Are you going to be late for your own party?" Relena asked, hoping Annie didn't live too far from her.

"No, no. I picked you up an hour before everyone will arrive. You don't mind helping me set up, do you?" Annie asked speeding and turning wildly.

"Not at all! Thank you for inviting me!"

"Not a problem," she smiled slyly, "Quatre was asking a lot of questions about you after school. I think the Raberba prince likes you."

"Raberba prince? The blond guy?"

"Yeah, he's really rich and super nice to where it's kind of scary. He doesn't date because he thinks girls are after his money, but that's crazy. There was only one girl that tried to take advantage of that…. She was crazy."

"So nice he's scary? How is that possible?" Relena laughed, covering her mouth in attempt not to snort like she used to.

Annie shrugged and turned sharply into a driveway. The house was two story and white. There were lights on in every single window.

"Where are your parents?"

"Business trip," Annie said nonchalantly, exiting the car quickly. She ran up the front steps and burst through her front door. She already had music playing loudly from the kitchen that filled the entire house. It was music Relena wasn't familiar with, but had heard once or twice before. The house was clean and organized that it nearly matched Relena's neat freak mother. She began to wonder if Annie was a neat freak too or if her parents had left it like this.

"I mostly need help setting up the trays of drinks. Can you pour the shots? They should go on the silver trays."

Relena nodded and walked over to the formal dining room and saw shot glasses by the hundreds. Most were plain while others had cities or famous restaurants. Relena poured the vodka into the shot glasses, running out and grabbing a second, a third bottle for them all.

"Annie, how many people are coming?"

Dancing around with the broom, Annie just shrugged and continued on. Relena didn't think there were enough people in the school to use up all of the shot glasses.

Within the hour, after all of the shot glasses had been filled and set strategically around the house, their guests had arrived. The music got louder and Relena got lost in the crowd. She held a red plastic cup tightly against her chest and tried not to dump into anyone. She attempted to mingle with her classmates, but she continued to get the weird looks. In desperation, she looked for Annie. However, the moment some guy named Trowa showed up, she was gone. Relena could hear the desperate excitement in her voice when she tried to fix the one side of her hair. She tried to encourage her friend, but mostly felt envious that she was confident enough go up to someone and had a good conversation.

After a few hours of being rejected, Relena found herself standing in the corner beside the staircase. Everyone was trickling up and down the stairs and Relena had hoped Annie would appear eventually to work her magic and introduce her to some people. However, she was forced to stand next to two girls. One of them had long, platinum blonde hair that went down to her knees. She held a plastic cup in her hand like it was a fashion accessory. The other girl was crying, beautifully, but still crying. She had curly red hair and a flower headband in. Relena tried not to eavesdrop, but the crying girl went on and on about Trowa. That was the second time she had heard his name. She was wondering what was so amazing about him that so many girls would be interested in him.

The blonde girl was rude to her friend, "I don't understand why you're so upset. You knew when you came here with him, he'd leave. You're in college, Cathy! You have to be used to parties by now."

"I am! But—I don't—understand why he—would ditch me for a girl with no hair!?"

"He's a whore, Cathy. Ever since you left, he's been whoring around with a lot of girls. I've kept my eye on him for you and this school year hasn't been pretty. I mean, he is really hot, but every girl knows that he can't commit."

"Commitment in high school?" Relena blurted out. She covered her mouth in panic, not believing she had said anything at all.

The girls turned to her. The blonde cocking a forked eyebrow, "Yeah, there are some people who want commitment, even in high school."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to come out that way."

"Well, it did."

"I know, I'm so sorry," Relena wanted to hide from the world now. She couldn't keep her mouth shut about anything. She knew nothing about these girls and she was going to blurt out her amateur relationship advice. She wanted to bite off her tongue.

"What did you mean? You sounded condescending, so I think we deserve an explanation." Cathy said, wiping her tears away now.

Relena pinched herself for getting into this situation. She reached for a shot that was placed on the small table beside her and swallowed hard, "I just mean commitment isn't something we should be looking for in high school. Monogamy, yes, but not commitment."

"Why?" Cathy snapped.

"We're too young to be committed. We do deserve monogamy and all of that, but if you're fooling yourself into thinking that you'll find the love of your life in high school," Relena laughed, hating herself for it, "You haven't been outside of this town then."

Both girls crossed their arms and glared at her.

"I go to college. I've been outside of the pond of a town."

"Then you shouldn't have expected commitment from a high schooler while you were away."

Cathy and the blonde started laughing suddenly. The blonde covered her mouth as if to stifle the sound, "You think Catherine and Trowa are dating?!"

"I assumed so with the subject of conversation," Relena frowned, not sure what had just happened.

"Trowa is Cathy's brother! She came home to visit and he promised to take her to a party. Well, he did that, but ditched her almost as soon as they walked in."

"Oh!" Relena felt her cheeks heat up, "I'm an idiot. I'm sorry."

The girls sobered up. The blonde extended her hand, "I'm Dorothy Catalonia. You're new, right?"

"Yes," Relena took her hand willingly, "I'm Relena Darlian."

"Darlian? I've heard that name before…" Cathy said pensively.

"Hi Relena," A voice said from behind her suddenly. She turned and saw Quatre, the Raberba prince smiling at her. He had two red cups in his hand. She watched in slow motion as he handed her one. She smiled her best, fake political smile that she used for her father's business dinners. She accepted his drink but knew she wouldn't actually drink it. She never drank anything someone gave her. She watched as his mouth moved, speaking to her, but her eyes wondered over his shoulder.

There he was; the annoying, and self-righteous know-it-all, Heero Yuy. He was looking around the party in a bored manner. There was another guy hanging off of his shoulder that had long brown hair tied in a braid. She watched him, still trying to seem interested in what Quatre was saying, but he rambled on about classes and teachers that she didn't care about. They were all the same to her. She got good grades because she applied herself, not because of the teachers.

Heero looked over at her, causing her to look away quickly and forcing her to pay attention to the blond boy. She felt the two girls she had just met move closer, being very obvious that they were eavesdropping.

"Oh, hello Dorothy," Quatre said distastefully, looking over Relena's shoulder now.

"Hello Quatre, I see you were able to make it to the party. Surprising… you never liked to be in exposed areas." Dorothy snapped back.

"I wouldn't miss one of Annie's parties, besides, I know Relena is new and didn't know anyone so I wanted to be there to help introduce her."

"No need, we've decided to help her out." Dorothy said, clutching Relena's arm tightly and pulling her away from Quatre. The two girls that suddenly decided to be her friends pushed Quatre and walked into the party. They led her into the center of it all and leaned closer to her ear, "Don't associate yourself with him or his friends. Trowa is one of his friends and we know he has a reputation of a whore."

"What about Heero?" Relena asked, letting the question slip out before she could think about the consequences of it.

"Heero Yuy? You've met him?" Cathy asked, surprised.

"He's my partner in History and very rude to me. I tried to be friendly with him and he rejected it." Relena explained.

"Yeah, Heero doesn't like random people coming up to him. The only way he'll talk to you is if his friends introduce them to him." Cathy explained, smiling sympathetically.

"That's strange."

Dorothy had wandered off, but returned with three more red cups, "I think I made the Prince cry."

Relena was shocked, but Cathy laughed. She knew she's get an explanation, but Heero wedged himself between the girls, scowling at Relena.

"Hi Heero," she squeaked out.

"For being a new girl, you cause an awful lot of trouble. I think you should reconsider your friend choices before you give the wrong impression to the student body."

"Lighten up, Yuy!" Dorothy said, placing a hand on his forearm gently and seductively. He pulled away, moving even closer to Relena.

"Be careful, Darlian. People aren't who you think they are. Catalonia dated my friend for his money. Bloom is more territorial than a girlfriend to her brother. Don't fall into traps, Darlain." He walked away, leaving Relena confused and slightly offended.

"Paranoid much?" She heard Dorothy say to Cathy. "Is he always like that to you, Relena?"

She nodded, staring at his retreating back.

"I say we graffiti his car. He can't threaten our new political princess like that." Dorothy said, smirking mischievously.

Finally got the second chapter up! I'm not promising quick updates like I usually do. This story is actually close to my heart so I want to take my time on it and do it justice.